Rui Zhang
November 2025 - Yuanxiao Lantern Festival
About the Image(s)
The Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese folk activity, also known as the Lantern Festival. It is mainly held on the 15th day of the first lunar month, including the customs of watching lanterns, guessing puzzles, eating Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival), etc.
Title: Yuanxiao Lantern Festival
Equipment Used: NIKON, 50mm f/1.8; handheld
Camera Settings: ISO 125, 1/50, f/2.2
Where and When: Urumqi, China, February 17th, 2019
Post-Processing: first in Lightroom, then adjusted in PS
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
It's a nice picture with good exposure.
I find the crop of the arch a little strange.
Posted: 11/11/2025 20:42:27
I find the crop of the arch a little strange.
Posted: 11/11/2025 20:42:27
This is a fun picture. I find myself going back and forth looking for more and more detail. Well executed handheld at 1/50 and photographically I have no critiques but with nothing in the picture for scale I wonder how big these are. Posted: 11/14/2025 01:25:19
I agree that it would have been better to include the entire arch in the image if it was in the original capture. Otherwise, it is a nice photo of the lanterns. The lighting and color are nicely done. Posted: 11/14/2025 06:57:21
Thank you all for your comments. That's not an arch behind it, it's called a pheasant feather, it's a decoration for the role of a military general in Chinese Peking Opera. It can generally reach a length of five or six feet, with bright and colorful colors. When inserted on the head of a general character, it highlights its power and majesty. In actual scenarios, the organizers created a decoration based on this to match the overall atmosphere of Peking Opera. The following is a photo of a Peking Opera general I found online, with a pheasant feather on the long thing behind his head.
The size of these characters is basically the same as that of real people.
Why didn't I take a more complete picture? The reason is like this. I remember that night was particularly cold, with temperatures around ten degrees Celsius, but there were many tourists. If I had to stand backwards to capture a panoramic view, I would have to stand a few meters in front of other people watching in front of me, which would block the camera. Therefore, I had to stand in front of them without letting other tourists enter the camera. Posted: 11/15/2025 18:06:52
The size of these characters is basically the same as that of real people.
Why didn't I take a more complete picture? The reason is like this. I remember that night was particularly cold, with temperatures around ten degrees Celsius, but there were many tourists. If I had to stand backwards to capture a panoramic view, I would have to stand a few meters in front of other people watching in front of me, which would block the camera. Therefore, I had to stand in front of them without letting other tourists enter the camera. Posted: 11/15/2025 18:06:52
I found another photo that I took at the time. In this photo, you may see more clearly that the arch behind is not there. Posted: 11/15/2025 18:33:03
The part of the pheasant feather that has been cut off is no longer important in the theme of this picture. Since it is not important, fortunately, it may be better to cut it off altogether. Posted: 11/20/2025 06:38:18
Wow! The colors are so striking! I agree that the crop of the circle in the original is unsatisfying... I'd the full circle, or one of the crops below work better. Posted: 11/29/2025 08:16:46